one key difference

Submitted by Charles Martel (United States), Oct 29, 2019 at 21:29

In the 1990's Colombia was teetering on the brink of complete anarchy. These days, Colombia appears to have reacquired its sanity. Now, Venezuela appears to be locked in Socialist self-flagellation. Maybe they'll come back from the brink. Maybe they'll go over the cliff.

Yet neither Colombia nor Venezuela at their worst were animated by the psychosis of Islam. I'm not a betting man. But if I was, I'd imagine the ugliest of the uglies to arise elsewhere. Take your pick. Pakistan. Iran. Syria. Turkey. Even parts of the Philippines. Each harbor zealots with the means and motive to make September 11th look like the sting of a bee. I've no longer any doubt that in the next decade one of these zealots will introduce an aerosolized version of smallpox into Times Square, a Hiroshima sized nuke over Tel Aviv, or unleash something equally nightmarish down upon the heads of the infidel.

In Gaza and so many other places where true Islam holds sway, the mantra is 'we value death more than the infidel values life'. Even 9/11 didn't convince me this was where we were headed. Quite candidly, it took Beslan to make me see the endgame. Yes, of course, Turkey is an irrational mess and Erdogan a very bad man. But Turkey is just one piece, and not even the scariest piece, of this terrifying puzzle. I respect Professor Pipes and find his efforts to guide us towards a better world, remarkable and almost without compare.

But a question at the heart of how to deal with Islam must be answered, yet until now, it has not been.

That is, how does one protect that which we Civilizationalists hold precious from Allah-sanctioned obliteration? Where are the voices within Islam calling for accommodation, reason, sanity, and yes, the critical thought which must be permitted by those wishing to make the world conform to the 21st Century instead of the 7th.

It's the very definition of a zero sum game.

And the darkness in Islam leaves very little room for the light of 21st Century reason. This is why I fear the chaotic tilt of Turkey far less than I do the underlying weltanschauung that drives all those who espouse any version of a belief system so consumed by darkness, anger and death.

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